There's Nothing Holding Me Back
by CuriousNymph
Summary: Peter Parker believes that life might go back to how it normally is - swinging about rooftops and handing in Maths homework; Michelle Jones hopes that life will go back to how it used to be - before she had a major crush on Peter Parker. Ugh - even the sound of that sentence is cliché. PREQUEL TO 'THE DOUBLE LIFE OF PETER PARKER' - Part 1 of 'The Spider Chronicles' series.


So here we go. After seeing Homecoming twice now, the whole Spiderman thing is back in the books for me. So I had to write something - considering that one particular ship hit me in the face like a brick :'D

This is a prequel for what's to come - an eleven chapter fic of nonsense that I couldn't hold back from writing, but very much look forward to creating.

Also yeah - the title was from that Shawn Mendes song. Go listen, fine people. I just see it fitting Peter's newfound confidence and web-slinging craziness. Also 'Don't You Forget about Me' by Simple Minds. Because the Breakfast Club is essentially what the kids in this film were - and yeah, I think Peter and Michelle would hope, individually, that they wouldn't forget the other, since they both want to be friends with each other.

Ned wishes his friends weren't quite so angsty.

Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

Peter Parker was near sure that after the entire run-in with Vulture, he was more than happy to stay where he was for a very long time.

The casual swing-arounds, the helping the little guy, the attending high school and Mr Delmar's newly built sandwich shop. The late night Lego kits and the early morning train journey to school. The Decathlon practice (lord forbid he flake out on Michelle Jones), the canteen chatter with Ned, the night patrols.

Everything about his life that he was comfortable with.

He loved being the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.

He often wondered if maybe it hadn't been a test after all – the whole Stark Internship graded up to official Avenger status thing. He told himself it couldn't have been anything else.

(He didn't know any better but Tony Stark was not about to corrupt such a selfless kid)

But, the truth of it was obvious – he was a 15 year old kid, trying his best no matter what he did, and always trying to be the better person when other people fell short.

Maybe life wasn't so bad at all – maybe he didn't need the whole Avengers rep just yet.

Reppin' Queens was more than enough.

Peter Parker loved being Spiderman, and he was happy as he was.

Michelle Jones begged to differ.

She'd been finding it more and more difficult to avoid bumping into the idiot ever since she'd officially become Decathlon captain, since the departure of Liz – who she actually sorely missed considering that she had been not only very intelligent (Michelle had very little time for people who didn't know left from right), but a very genuine person as well – something that was a rarity among rare things these days.

It didn't seem to matter that she'd made a point of letting them see her as a friend – as 'MJ' rather than 'Michelle' – because Parker was still adamant to look slightly distant from her, like he might accidentally anger her and lose teeth for it. It didn't seem to matter that she was MJ now.

Well. Maybe that wasn't entirely true.

He kept _smiling_ at her. With those teeth and his hand running through his hair, laughing as he tried to diffuse the tension he felt was there.

He kept trying to talk to her – trying to be around her, or trying to turn up for practice again as much as he could, (but then again, she wasn't going to nit pick that – if he didn't turn up, that was his loss, not hers) or just trying to be a proper friend to her.

She was cool with that. She'd made of point of telling them – the whole Decathlon team – that they were her friends. Maybe even Flash Thompson, but she could deal with him should the need arise.

But Peter Parker?

He was making way more effort than anybody else.

Maybe he was just nice. She'd looked to Ned on a number of occasions to try and explain to her, through eye contact alone, why he was being so keen.

Ned had shrugged and continued eating his lunch.

Maybe he was just trying to be friendly.

Or maybe, Michelle thought heatedly,

 _I'm only noticing because I have a serious crush on him._

* * *

Hopefully that leaves you curious for more?

I live in hope.

Reviews and kudos are always, always appreciated - they make my day!


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